Welcome To Paradise Row

Welcome To Paradise Row

The first time Pete Herbert and I met was about 8 years ago. He came to play at our club night Autodisco and if my memory serves me right…we slept head to toe on my mate Andy’s L shaped sofa that night. This is how it started.

Since that night we have played more than a few gigs together back to back, travelled around the world in convoy, laughed a lot, shared more than a few drunken breakfasts and made a decent number of reworks, remixes and tracks together on the hoof. So far so good, or as Pedro would say ‘Bingo!’.

This month we launched our latest and probably for us our most exciting project to date as we released the first record on our new label, Paradise Row. The imprint has it’s origins in a pousada in Barra Grande in Brazil last New Year. We were playing there at the wonderful Mareh Festival at the time. Then while chilling out one day after the first party we made a track in Pedro’s room. That track ‘Disco De Chocolate’ took at least 10 beers to get going and a great day of hanging around in what we called the Billy Connolly suite with the odd interruption for a dip in the pool.

It was such a privilege to play at Mareh as the people, the place and the set up were so spot on…we felt like very lucky boys indeed. And funnily enough despite the constant distractions…swimming pool, hammocks, party people, caparinha on tap, cheap fags etc, we managed to knock together a pretty hot track in ‘Disco De Chocolate’. And that track was destined to be released on the brand new Mareh label that grew out of our experience at the festival and hook up with the organisers. I offered to help them run the imprint (as that is what I have done now for as long as I can remember) and it came out alongside a belter of a track by NYC legend Eric ‘Dunks’ Duncan who had also played at the festival that year. So Mareh Music was launched. Viva Mareh!

For us however it was more than just a great festival, a nice hook up and of course good times. ‘Disco De Chocolate’ we both felt was a new direction production wise for us and a new sound. A sound that came from our edit work, our approach to making music and our way of working together. But importantly it was not a DJ edit or a remix. It was a fusion of everything we had done before. And it helped that the track became one of the biggest tracks in our sets over the following year. It always drove the dance floor wild wherever we went and in front of very different crowds. So we must have got something right! It became a go to track. Again we were well chuffed. And it got us thinking too…

So Pedro and I decided after the amazing experience that was Mareh and the buzz surrounding making ‘Disco De Chocolate’ (plus several gin & tonics) that we would like to start a new imprint just for our own productions and our ‘new style’ if we can call it that. We had the sound we were looking for…still with some borrowed basis as we are DJs first and foremost, but also with a lot of production banged on top too. There was also a vibe. We wanted it to be fresh and different, but also not so serious as we both believe dance producers and DJs are already way to serious about themselves and what they do, which to be honest is quite surprising. In fact, there is nothing more boring than a DJ or dance music. It can be way too cool for those who still like to have a good time, and just plain stupid in the hands of more commercial interests. But most of all we wanted our new label to reflect the life we live and love as DJs. Blending the sounds and vibes of various places together and all about people getting people together and having fun. After all is that not what music is all about?

So you can check out the sounds from Paradise Row on Soundcloud on our pages now. We are working hard at it..well quite hard…to make it all we can.